Scarecrows
Summer 1983 – Winter 1984
Ynstaholmen Outside Mandal, South of Norway
Inghild Karlsen has worked with felt since her debut art projects. Textiles, tapestry and felting wool are essential materials in her work. She learned the felting technique from her grandmother, growing up in Northern Norway. She mounted 13 felt sculptures on tall reinforcing steel bars at Ynstaholmen, an islet outside Mandal, south of Norway. All of them was made from felt and therefore intended to become part of nature. Inghild wanted nature to tear down the installation through the seasons, yet she said, “I had forgotten that people are also nature”. The outdoor installation lasted about one year before by-passers destroyed it. There was a lot of media coverage and discussions about the art project.
Inghild Karlsen referred to her scarecrows as “conservationists” for the primary industries of agriculture and fishing. The felt sculptures were viewed as expressions of alternative perspectives on what sculpture could be. The artist intended that the apotropaic figures should protect nature and the sea from pollution, oil drilling and hydroelectric development. At the same time, she wanted the sculptures to be a part of nature in a dynamic way, changing with the seasons. They were going to be gradually worn down and broken by the weather, thus by nature.
“I have always been drawn towards that which is about to become extinct, to disappear, the layers become visible, and choice, hope is still present. The only thing I know for sure is that I long for movement. The distance from movement to stagnation isn’t far. I want my work to function like that, not just lie on a stand, but everywhere in different contexts, unpretentious.”
Some of the Scarecrow photos were also featured in a photo installation at The National Museum of Contemporary Art. The museum acquired some of the photos the same year. Scarecrows from 1983 in inkjet, showing under a photo installation in 2016, were acquired by the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo
